Forging Ahead
by Someguy96
Summary: Life was going perfectly for Natsu, Fairy Tail was still number 1, he had made S-class and had married Lucy Heartfilia. But things changed when he went on a solo mission that involved the destruction of an illegal magical lab. Who is this gun wielding seven year old and why are his hands on fire?.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright here is an idea I've had in my head for a while now and this is my first fanfic in a while so feel free to point out any mistakes in my writing and to review this story so far. **

**I do not own Fairy Tail**

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It was a normal day in the Fairy Tail guild hall, well as normal as it could get in Fairy Tail. People were drinking and laughing and just generally having a good time all except a certain pink haired dragon slayer. He was sitting at the guild's bar with nothing to do. His wife of three weeks, Lucy Dragneel, was on a mission with Erza, Lisanna and Levy. They had commandeered her the day after they returned from their honeymoon in order to have a "girl's mission". The mission itself was hardly difficult and the reward was not anything special. Natsu asked Mira about that once they left and she said that Erza was going on a special date with Jellal and that it was taking place near the town with the mission. Apparently Erza believed that her fugitive boyfriend was going to propose and she brought along some of the girls to help her prepare. Natsu just shrugged when he heard that and began trying to entertain himself but soon began to sulk. Mirajane just looked at the sulking dragon slayer and decided to try and help him out.

'Why don't you go on a mission until she gets back? It may relieve you of your boredom and it may take your mind off Lucy until she comes back'.

Natsu's head perked up at that suggestion. 'Yeah, I can do that. It will be fun and Lucy said that we needed some money because we spent it all on the wedding and the honeymoon'.

Mira smiled at the pinkette's reaction as he excitedly jumped up from the bar stool and bounded up the steps to the second floor where all the S-class jobs were located. Natsu had passed the S-class exam shortly after the Grand Magic Games along with Cana Alberona. Master Makarov allowed two people to pass that year and for the next three years because he said that they had seven years to make up for and that during the Grand Magic Games they had already proven themselves worthy of the title. However, that did not stop the master from increasing the difficulty of the trials severely for those years.

Natsu quickly scanned the board and grabbed a request that looked promising. He went back down the stairs and went over to Mira in order to inform her of his choice of job. He handed her the paper and she scanned it quickly.

'Let's see here' she said as she began reading off the request. '"Mage wanted to take down illegal magical laboratory. This lab is rumoured to be the site of many illegal and unethical magical experiments. The objective is to destroy the lab and all its contents as well as capture the lead scientist in there, Dr Glatteis Shimo. The reward is 1 million Jewels for the destruction of the lab and an extra 4 million for the capture of Dr Shimo"'.

'Why is there such a big reward for her capture?' Natsu asked.

'I guess it's because they don't want her to escape and rebuild the lab. Also it says that the lab is located somewhere in the Bad Lands'.

'The Bad Lands?' Natsu questioned.

'Yeah it's an area in the mountains on the border between Fiore and Veronica. Recently it has become a haven for bandits and criminals because no-one knows whose jurisdiction it falls into'.

'Sweet that means I get to beat a lot of people up'. Natsu was grinning madly at the prospect of actually being paid to destroy something and the possibility of a large fight. Mirajane giggled at the sight. Even after all these years Natsu still loved a good fight. At that moment Natsu jumped out of his chair and grabbed the paper from Mira's hand and dashed out of the guild. He grabbed Happy on the way. However, when he reached the door he stopped and turned back around.

'Hey Mira, tell Lucy I've gone on a mission and that I should be back in about a week or so' he yelled.

With that being said he and his blue haired partner ran out of the guild towards the home he, Happy and Lucy shared. After they dated for a year Lucy moved into Natsu and Happy's house in the woods but only after she made a number of modifications to it, for example getting a bed and expanding the house to include a guest room. As soon as they reached the house they gathered all the stuff they needed and set out for the train station and that is where they encountered their first problem.

'Oh man I completely forgot that it's at least a one day train ride to the border' Natsu exclaimed sir.

'Aye sir!' Happy confirmed.

'Well it looks like we're walking to the border' Natsu said as he began to walk away from the station.

'Natsu! It will take us weeks to get there if we walk, and that means Lucy will get mad at us again since we'll be back so late' Happy explained to his friend.

'Aw damn it. This isn't going to be pleasant' Natsu lamented as he slowly began walking into the train station. As soon as they were on the train and it began to move, the familiar bout of motion sickness hit Natsu as he began leaning out the window, emptying the contents of his stomach. It was made worse by the fact that he didn't have his blonde haired mate to comfort him during this period of distress. After only twenty three hours of torture the train arrived at a town just before the border.

It was here that he met the representative of the magic council as they were the ones who had requested the job. The council official was obviously displeased with having to call in a Fairy Tail mage for assistance. He made it very clear to Natsu that he was only authorised to destroy the research facility that was located near the edge of a small town that had sprung up in the Bad Lands. He also told him that any other destruction would result in repercussions for Fairy Tail as it was already a big enough headache to just get permission to destroy this lab.

He showed Natsu a picture of the woman. She seemed to be young enough, maybe a couple of years older than Lucy; she had cropped, brown hair and brown eyes that contrasted with her pale white skin. In the picture she was wearing winter clothing so Natsu couldn't see her body type but for height she looked to be five foot six. The council representative also told them that the doctor didn't have any magic that they were aware off but they could be wrong.

As soon as the meeting was over with one last reminder that he could not destroy anything but the laboratory Natsu and Happy left the building and began making their way towards the Bad Lands. It would take half an hour to get to the outskirts of the Bad Lands. There were no maps of the area and all the counsel knew was that the lab was located somewhere to the western outskirts of the town.

As soon as the pair entered the area he received a series of stares from various figures but none of them dared attack the wizard. It seemed the reputation of the famous Salamander had pre-ceded him. Surprisingly he managed to find the lab easily enough even though it was located on the outskirts of the town. It was easily recognisable because it was the only building with light coming out of it. The other buildings were all dark and decrepit.

Natsu made no attempt to hide his presence as he began barging towards the building, not even bothering to check if it was the right one. The building was three stories high and was square in shape. There were numerous windows and light was coming from each one. The only plan that Natsu had was that he was going to capture the scientist first before he destroyed the lab. He burst through the wall and soon began running at top speed around the building looking for the doctor. Happy was trailing behind him with his wings out making sure that Natsu didn't overlook anything.

There were various foreign smells scattered around the place that made locating the doctor difficult for Natsu but his search was accelerated as he completely ignored all doors and kept bursting through walls. As soon as he began searching on the second floor he found her. She was walking out of a room wearing a white lab coat with glasses over her eyes. Inside the room she just came out of was a boy strapped to an operating table with medical equipment lying all around him.

Glatteis Shimo simply smirked and looked at the pink haired dragon slayer.

'Well isn't this a surprise'.

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**Alright people you know the rules. Please read and review. Also sorry for any grammar mistakes. The next chapter should be out hopefully within a week. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is the second chapter of forging ahead. I would like to personally thank Skelekc for reviewing this story and your questions will be answered over the coming chapters.**

**I don't own Fairy Tail**

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The doctor and the salamander stood staring at each other, each of them waiting for the other to make a move. Finally the doctor was the one who broke the silence.

'I assume you are here to capture me, and I don't suppose that there is any chance that you will not destroy my lab and you will let me go free' she asked the dragon slayer sweetly.

'No there isn't' Natsu replied with a hint of arrogance in his voice as he believed that this would be an easy capture. He was dead wrong.

He was completely surprised when she threw a punch, but the attack she called out while she was doing it completely threw him.

'Ice Dragon Knuckle' she cried as her fist which was now covered in ice hit Natsu's cheek. He was forced back a few feet due the unexpectedness of the blow and the power of the hit. Also, he could feel ice beginning to form on the spot where he was hit with the blow. He immediately raised a flame cover hand to the spot in his cheek and the ice began to melt. This seemed to have shocked the good doctor as she raised an eyebrow at the development.

'Interesting. Usually anyone who's hit by my knuckle attack gets frozen over. I guess you must a particularly strong fire mage if you could melt my ice just like that'.

'Well I am a fire dragon slayer' Natsu retorted as he composed himself after that unexpected blow. It was then that he got a good look at what exactly hit him. Covering the doctors two hands were dragon heads made out of ice. Her hands were still balled into fists so it made the dragon's mouth appear to close around the knuckles.

'Well for your information, I am a second generation ice dragon slayer and I can tell that you're a first gen dragon slayer, Salamander' she said, answering his obvious question. 'Due to that my escape may be more difficult to achieve but I will escape nonetheless. I don't think I'll enjoy spending time in a Council jail cell'.

'Oh yeah! What makes you think that I'm going to let you get away so easily?'

'Simple, I'm smarter than you!'

That comment pissed Natsu off immensely and he immediately charged Shimo with a flame covered fist. He sent the Fire Dragon Iron Fist towards her face but the woman blocked it with an ice covered forearm. 'Ice Dragon Gauntlet' was what she called out when she blocked it and the ice did indeed take the shape of a gauntlet on her arm. The two began exchanging hand to hand blows, neither of them being given enough time or space to create a larger more devastating attack.

As this was going on Happy, not wanting to get caught in the escalating fight, flew into the room that the doctor had just exited. He immediately noticed the boy lying down on the table. He flew over to the boy in order to get a better look at him. The boy looked to be between five and eight years old. He had very dirty blond hair and dirt covered the rest of his body. He was mostly naked on the table with the only covering being a pair of stained white underwear. His body was severely thin to the point where you could count a few ribs, which indicated severe malnourishment. He was also very small for his age with his height being just over a metre.

Happy then decided to help the poor boy and he began undoing the straps that were keeping him on this table however, once the straps where undone he didn't know what to do with the boy. Thankfully, it was at that moment the boy began to stir from his slumber most likely due to the noise of the escalating fight between dragon slayers just outside his room. He opened his eyes groggily, revealing a bright blue colour to them.

'Uuuuugggghhh. Where am I?' the formerly unconscious boy groaned.

'You're in a lab somewhere on the border between Veronica and Fiore' the blue exceed replied quickly.

'Oh so I'm still in the Bad Lands. That's something good, I guess'. The boy then turned his head and looked directly at Happy for the first time. His eyes then promptly widened in shock.

'Holy Crap! It's a flying, talking blue cat' the boy exclaimed.

'Hey I'm not a cat, I'm an exceed'.

'What's an exceed?' the boy questioned.

Happy took a few moments to respond before he replied dejectedly, 'it's a magical, talking, flying cat. Aye'.

'Oh that's cool. So did you and your partner come to rescue me' the boy said hopefully.

'No, we came for Shimo and I just happened to find you in here. I'm not even sure Natsu noticed the fact that you are in here. Hey wait a minute, how did you know I have a partner?'

'Those sounds coming from outside this room sound like a fight is going on and I don't think that you're the one fighting Shimo, unless you have the power to transform and be in two places at once'.

'Good point' the exceed replied.

'Well it has been real fun talking to you but I feel I should probably get my stuff and get out of here before that woman comes back and starts to experiment on me again'. The boy made to get off the table but as soon as his feet touched the floor they collapsed under his weight.

'Wow. You must be really weak if you can't even stand up'.

'Shut up, you stupid cat'.

'Wow you sound like Lucy when you say that'.

'Who the hell is Lucy? You know what? Never mind. I don't suppose you will be able to help me get out of this room would you?'

'Aye sir!'

With that being said, Happy lifted the boy off the ground and began flying him out of the room via its second entrance as the first entrance was too close to the dragon slayers duel. As soon as they exited the door on the opposite side of the room Happy made a beeline for an open window that was on their floor but he was stopped by the kid.

'Wait where are you going' the kid exclaimed.

'Umm the exit' Happy answered.

'Well we can't leave yet, I need to get my clothes and more importantly I need to get my guns back. I am not leaving without them. They were a gift from Doc'.

'Why would you want something that Shimo gave you?' Happy asked with a puzzled expression on his.

'No not Shimo, this was a gift from someone else who also happened to be a female doctor. Also, back to my search, you didn't happen to find what I'm looking for on your way in here did you?'

'No I don't think so. All I saw on the first floor was a bunch of notes and shelves and other stuff'.

'Then they must be on the third floor, if they haven't already been destroyed. Oh that bitch better not has destroyed them or I swear I will kill her slowly and painfully'.

'Now you're talking like Erza' Happy cried.

'Who are these people you keep mentioning?' the kid cries. 'You know what? Forget it. Just take me to the third floor'.

'Aye aye sir!'

As soon as they flew up the stairs to the third floor they began searching each room thoroughly and by that I mean Happy flew around carrying the boy while he examined every nook and cranny of the room from the exceed's arms. When they were searching a room full of various containers and other broken lab equipment on the back left hand corner of the building, they finally found what they were looking for.

'There they are!' the kid exclaimed as he began squirming in the exceed's. He managed to worm out of his arms and fell to the floor. Once he hit floor he began trying to shuffle towards the guns. There were three guns in total, two 15 round semi-automatic pistols known as the Newbies, due to the fact that they only came out 2 years ago (they resemble the Beretta m9 pistol) and one black sawn off pump action shotgun with spare rounds attached to the side near the trigger.

Seeing as the kid was still floundering on the floor, Happy swooped in and grabbed the weapons and their accompanying holsters and picked up the kid again. However, it was very awkward to carry the kid and the equipment. It was then that the building began to shake. Happy visibly paled at the sound and instantly thought that Natsu was about to destroy the building but there was a slight problem with that and that was that they were still in it.

'Let's get out of here' Happy yelled and the kid only nodded in agreement. As they made their way towards an open window, the building began to shake again and a huge pillar of fire erupted from a hole in the floor. This action startled the blue exceed immensely and coupled with the job of juggling the items he carried caused him to drop someone.

The kid fell to the floor near the hole where the pillar of fire erupted from stayed there until the floor near the hole began to give way due to the sudden impact. The floor fell down and so too did the kid, screaming as it did.

'Oh Shit!'

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**I hope you enjoyed chapter 2. The next chapter will contain the fight between the Doctor and the Salamander. **

**Also this story will be between 10-15 chapters long as of this moment and I will finish it with weekly updates.**

**As always please read and review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the delay, I've been busy these last few days but here is chapter 3 and do not fear, I swear I will finish this story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

While Happy was busy introducing himself to the kid inside the lab, Natsu's fight with Shimo was continuing outside the room. After exchanging hand to hand blows for a few minutes, the doctor spat in Natsu's face in order to surprise him and as soon as he reeled back due to the spit hitting his eyes Shimo hit him in the face with an ice dragon knuckle. This blow sent Natsu reeling back and created some space between the two dragon slayers.

Shimo sucked in her breath. 'Ice Dragon Roar,' she cried as a stream of ice emerged from her mouth. The attack hit Natsu and sent him back down the hallway he originally came from. Natsu quickly got back to his feet and used his magic so that flames began to engulf his whole body in order to melt the ice that was forming on his person. As soon as that was done he kept the flames and began charging towards Shimo, head first. He received a burst of speed by holding his hands behind him and shooting flames from them.

'Fire Dragon Sword Horn,' he cried as he head-butted the ice dragon slayer in the chest. The doctor was thrown of her feet and fell on her back. However, the attack didn't do much damage as her entire chest was covered in a layer of thick ice. 'Ice dragon Armour' was what she called it as she got back to her feet.

Natsu didn't let her stay on her feet for long as he hit her with a Fire Dragon Flame Elbow as soon as she got back up. However, this time Shimo didn't have time to block it and she received a full force blow, straight to the jaw. The result was the knocking out of one tooth and the beginning of a bruise being formed. The doctor began picking herself back up and immediately she began trying to create some distance between herself and Natsu.

Naturally the fire dragon slayer chased after her. 'Ice Dragon Spike,' and with that said tens of sharpened spikes erupted from her back all heading towards Natsu. Natsu braced himself for the attack and immediately covered his face with his hands and he engulfed himself in flames. Unfortunately the spikes where too cold to be melted that quickly and many of them hit his body leaving multiple bruises and minor cuts.

After the attack was over he looked up and saw that the doctor had reached the other end of the hallway and that she was smirking at him. He was about to charge her again when she suddenly raised her arms up to be perpendicular to her sides and pointing towards the wall. 'Ice Dragon Secret Art, Icy Cavern: Frozen Impalement,' and as soon as that was said beams of ice immediately began shooting from her feet, hands and head that turned the surfaces of the room into an icy cavern. The cavern began spreading quickly towards Natsu and as soon as it covered half the distance between the two slayers, spikes began jutting out from all four surfaces. The spikes where sharp and deadly and left no room for manouvre as they completely covered the section they were located in. Natsu took a step back as the icy cavern and the accompanying spikes continued to make their way towards him.

He tried to think of a way out of it when suddenly an idea came to him. 'Fire Dragon Secret Art, Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade'. The barrage of flames that erupted from the dragon slayer hit the oncoming spikes with a vengeance. A burst of steam erupted from the contact as fire and ice collided in a violent explosion. Shimo was very concerned as the steam had created a thick fog in the hallway, making it impossible to see where her opponent was.

It didn't take long for that question to be answered because seemingly out of nowhere Natsu appeared in front of Shimo and immediately sucked in a breath. 'Fire Dragon …' Shimo knew what was coming as soon as she saw him take a breath. She immediately crouched down and swept Natsu's legs out from under him making him fall backwards. 'Roar!' However, instead of hitting the doctor the attack went up through the ceiling creating a hole in it.

The doctor quickly made her move. 'Ice Dragon Lance' and with that a large lance formed on her hand. She rushed over to Natsu and immediately tries to impale him with the lance. Unfortunately for her, she was interrupted by a boy screaming the word shit. The doctor was momentarily distracted to the point where she looked for the source of the sound. This brief lapse gave Natsu the chance to get up and move away from the doctor's deadly instrument.

As soon as he was back to his feet Natsu covered his fists in flames and tried to punch the doctor once again. Shimo, however, was no longer distracted and blocked the incoming strike with an Ice Dragon Gauntlet. The two began exchanging hand to hand blows once again although their movements where more sluggish than when they started due to the amount of magic energy they used. However, it was clear that Natsu had the upper hand in terms of magic energy left and experience with hand to hand combat.

While this was going on, the kid was still falling from the third floor, screaming all the while. Happy quickly flew after the kid and managed to catch him before he hit the floor. Together they slowly went back down to the ground floor. It was there they saw the carnage that the two dragon slayers had wreaked on the hallway. There were ice patches and burn marks littered about the hallway as well as cracks and holes.

The exceed and the kid surveyed the damage and saw the two dragon slayers still engaged in combat. They looked at each other and silently agreed to get the hell out of the building so that they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire anymore. They quickly flew into a room. This was a different room than the operating room and was full of magic lacrima and other various vials of other various chemicals.

Each of these chemicals had one thing in common and that was that they were all flammable and each of the lacrima was a different type of fire magic according to the labels that were placed underneath each container.

'Wow, this woman's more of a pyromaniac than Natsu is,' Happy said in obvious amazement.

'Yeah,' the kid replied dumbly, while still being held in his arms.

The kid was the first to snap out of his amazement and he quickly ordered Happy to stop gawking and look for an exit. The duo then began to fly around and look for an exit but this room was different from the lab as its purpose seemed to be that of a storage closet and not a lab. This made getting out difficult as they had to go out the way they came in and that meant going back into the battle zone. The two looked at each other and nodded half-heartedly, they knew what need to be done. However, as soon as they were about to head back to the door it opened and Shimo sprinted into the room.

Her appearance had changed since the last time the two had seen her. She was now sporting more bruises and burn marks on her body and a lot of her clothes had holes burned into them. Her hair was wild and her glasses were cracked. She sprinted into the room and made her way towards the duo with murder in her eyes. The two just stared at her wide eyed unable to move.

The doctor only made it halfway before the door opened once again revealing a pink haired dragon slayer. Natsu definitely appeared the better of the two as he looked only slightly worse off than when the exceed and the kid saw him last. Shimo turned around to face the newcomer and Happy saw this as an opportunity to fly to Natsu. He flew as fast as he could but in order to get to Natsu he needed to pass the doctor. As soon as he flew right by her, her hand shot out and grabbed the exceed's tail, showcasing the reflexes that had helped her in her fight with Natsu.

Happy jerked back at the sudden motion and dropped the kid in the process. The Doctor was about to grab the flying cat and Natsu was about to rush Shimo, but the kid reacted quicker than the two of them. Having grabbed one of his handguns as he was falling out of Happy's arms he quickly aimed it at the Doctor's head with the skill of a professional and pulled the trigger.

'Fire Shot,' he screamed as a bullet of fire erupted from the gun and hit the Doctor squared in the face. She fell back screaming, clutching her face and in the process let go of Happy. Happy immediately seized upon the opportunity to escape and quickly grabbed the kid and flew over to Natsu. Natsu then immediately grabbed the two and ran from the room and immediately headed for an exit. He did not go back the way he came into the building but instead turned 180 degrees and began running in a straight line at an increased speed through walls and all.

The kid wondered what was going on but his question was immediately answered when Natsu burst through the last wall and they were outside the building but before gravity could take effect, the building exploded behind them. All three of them were thrown forward with Natsu pulling the two in close to his chest in order to protect them from the blast. It was obvious that the shot had ignited one of the chemicals which in turn cracked one of the lacrimas which violently let loose its magic and created a chain reaction.

Natsu's fire proof body protected the two from the blast but they were thrown forward by its force and when they hit the ground the kid was thrown free of Natsu's hold and rolled away from the two. Once the blast had subsided Natsu and Happy began to pick themselves up and looked back towards the lab. The building was completely destroyed as the blast seemed to have caused the top two floors to cave in.

'Wow, what a mess,' Happy exclaimed.

'Yeah,' Natsu agreed as they looked at the wreck of the building. Natsu then began to walk away and Happy soon followed him.

'Shimo is either dead or escaped after that blast and I can't smell her due to the chemicals in the air. Unfortunately, she is gone either way but on the bright side we destroyed the lab so we get a nice one million Jewel reward.'

'Aye,' Happy replied.

'By the way Happy who was that kid with you?'

'I don't know but he talked like Lucy and Erza and AHHH we lost him the blast. We have to find him' Happy screamed as he flew off looking for the kid. Natsu just shrugged and began looking around for the kid's small and thin body. It wasn't easy due to the amount of rubble and fires about the place. Natsu had a feast eating all these fires and soon replenished his magic energy.

After twenty minutes of searching Natsu heard Happy scream his name. He quickly sprinted over to where the exceed was but abruptly stopped in shock when he saw what Happy was seeing. There in the middle of a fire was the kid. He was unconscious and his body was bruised and it looked like his right arm and left leg were broken. However, there was one major problem with this scene and that was that his body was not burning at all. The duo looked at each other with the same expression of shock and disbelief.

**Alright I hope you enjoyed that. As always please read and review. Chapter 4 should be out in one week.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here is chapter 4 of Forging ahead. **

**I do not own Fairy Tail**

It took a while but Natsu and Happy finally snapped out of their shock long enough to pull the kid from the fire and true enough he didn't have one single burn mark on his body. However, he was still unconscious due to his fall and his injuries needed to be treated immediately. Natsu carried the kid bridal style away from the building.

There were many questions floating around in his head that ran along the lines of: who was this kid? Why was he in that lab? And most importantly how could he be immune to fire? Natsu decided to put these questions on hold for the time being and decided to concentrate on taking the kid to a hospital as quickly as possible. He made better time back to the town due to his increased pace and that fact that he knew where he was going this time.

He and Happy arrived at a hospital after about twenty minutes and immediately requested help for the kid. Staff from the building took the kid immediately and brought him to an intensive care room. Natsu told the doctors what happened as best he could but he left out the being immune to fire thing as he had his own theory about that.

After getting himself patched up they went to see the council official in order to obtain his reward. The official made no attempt at hiding his smugness when he heard that Natsu had failed to capture Shimo and since there was doubt over her current status, Natsu wouldn't get the extra 4 million Jewels. Although he did get the initial one million Jewels for destroying the lab so Natsu was happy overall.

They went back to the hospital afterwards and immediately went to the waiting room. The kid was being examined by a doctor in order to see the extent of his injuries. After around thirty minutes of waiting, the doctor came out of the room and spoke with Natsu. He told him that the kid had broken his right arm and his left leg, he had two broken ribs, three cracked ones, he had multiple bruises throughout his body and he also had a black eye. The doctor was also worried about the kid's obvious malnourishment.

Most of the bruises and the black eye were healed pretty quickly by the hospital's mages but the broken bones would take some time to heal. When Natsu and Happy went into the kid's room he found the boy lying down on the bed, still unconscious. His midsection was wrapped in bandages and the lower part of his left leg and entire right arm were covered in casts.

Natsu sat down beside the kid's bed and waited for him to wake up. As he was waiting he had Happy tell him everything about the kid that he knew. Natsu was concerned about the kid as he wondered what exactly Shimo was doing to him. She was a criminal because of her illegal experiments so he knew that it couldn't be good. He decided to wait until the kid wakes up in order to get some answers.

He had to wait a while because the kid didn't wake up until the next day. During that time Natsu only left his bedside in order to get food. The kid woke up with a groan as he felt some pain in his body. His eyes opened groggily as he slowly regained consciousness. His blue eyes scanned the ceiling above him and widened slightly in shock as he did not recognise this place. He turned his head to Natsu and Happy and saw them smiling down at him. His eyes changed from shock to curiosity.

'So where am I?' where the first words to come out of the kid's mouth.

'You're in a hospital room in the town of Teorann. We brought you here after the lab Happy found you in exploded. You were pretty beat up but you're mostly better now. I'm Natsu by the way and you already know happy. Do you think you can tell us why you were in the Bad Lands in the first place and why you were in that lab?'

'Oh is that all, well that's an easy question to answer. To put it simply, I was born in the Bad Lands and have lived there my entire life. As to why I was in that lab with Shimo, I don't know. She arrived in the Bad Lands about six months ago and set up shop in one of the few intact buildings left. She single handily ran out the gang that had been occupying the building. After that there was silence from her bar the odd strange noise that came from the building.

However, one day while I was out scrounging for food, I was knocked out. When I came too I was lying down in some sort of storage room. Shimo came in and I demanded she tell me what the hell is going on. Unfortunately she didn't say anything and just knocked me out again with some sort of anaesthesia. That was why I couldn't move for a while after I woke up.'

Natsu and Happy stayed silent for a moment or two as they contemplated what the kid was telling them. His information worried him because he felt uneasy with not knowing what Shimo was doing in that lab but he did have a nagging feeling with what she did to that kid. He decided to test out that theory later but first he had to find more about this kid. The fact that he was born in that wretched place indicated a harsh childhood.

'Hey, do you think you could tell us more about yourself, like for starters your name,' Natsu asked with a soft tone, 'but you don't have to if you don't want to,' he quickly added.

'Nah it's ok. You two did save my life so it's only fair that I tell you what you want to know. My name is Nathan. Just Nathan. I don't know who my parents are as they either died when I was a kid or abandoned me when I was a baby. To be honest I don't really care. For as long as I can remember I've been living with the Doc, not Shimo, and she took care of me in her own strange way. She also taught me gun magic, so I didn't die on the streets but she's gone now,' he finished with a soft tone as he unconsciously let a single tear fall down his cheek'.

Natsu empathised with this kid immensely as he went through the same thing when Igneel left him. He decided right then and there to look after this kid even if his theory was proven wrong. He didn't think it was though after he had seen Nathan's teeth. He looked around the room in order to make sure that they were alone and that there were no doctors or nurses. When he was satisfied that they were alone Natsu turned back to the kid.

'Hey Nathan open up your mouth will you' Natsu asked the blonde haired child.

The kid looked at him questionably but he eventually complied. The pink haired dragon slayer didn't seem to want to hurt him. He opened his mouth which revealed his newly elongated and pointy canines. Nathan had wondered about them when he woke up but he decided to question them later. Once his mouth was open Natsu did something shocking. He stuck two flame covered fingers into his mouth.

Happy yelled out in shock and Nathan immediately closed his mouth on Natsu's fingers. Natsu withdrew his fingers just before Nathan's jaws closed down on them but the flames that were on them were gone. Nathan, after he had snapped his jaw shut, inadvertently sucked in a breath through his nose due to shock. This motion caused the flames in his mouth to go down his throat but instead of the burning sensation that he expected, he instead felt a small burst of energy. He looked at Natsu in shock.

'Well that proves it,' Natsu said gleefully 'you're a fire dragon slayer just like I am. You're a second generation dragon slayer, that's what Shimo was doing to you. She was implanting a fire dragon lacrima into your body'.

'How could you tell?' Happy asked

'I guessed based on his immunity to fire and elongated teeth. All dragon slayers have them'.

Happy deadpanned at his explanation as his method of confirmation was still highly dangerous and could have killed the kid. Nathan, however, looked more shocked at the confirmation of the news. He was a dragon slayer, what did this mean? He figured he could still use gun magic because he used it in the lab, but what was this whole thing about eating fire. He looked to Natsu for answers.

Natsu simply smiled at Nathan and said 'if you want me to teach you everything I know about dragon slaying magic, then you're going have to come with me and join Fairy Tail'.

Nathan was shocked at the offer. He didn't know a lot about Fairy Tail and he was wary of what it might mean for him but Natsu and Happy had saved his life and he didn't feel as if they were trying to hurt him and thought himself a good judge of character. He decided to go with his gut.

'Sure, I'll join'.

**Ok I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I would like to thank all my new followers, you guys motivate me as much as my ****one**** reviewer (hint, hint).**

**As always read and review and I will see you in a week.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright here is chapter 5. Thanks to all those who favoured and followed my story, I was so happy. I mean 8 followers, that's got to be a record for me.**

**I do not own Fairy Tail.**

Nathan was allowed leave the hospital the day after Natsu told him he was a dragon slayer. The entire previous day had been spent with Natsu explaining everything about dragon slaying magic. Needless to say the kid had been shocked. If what Natsu was saying was true, dragon slaying magic was very powerful indeed and could be very useful towards his survival in the future. Having more powerful magic is always useful but Nathan was still relieved that he could still use gun magic.

When they were walking towards the train station Nathan began to think about the new guild he was going to join. He had never been a part of the guild and no matter how much Natsu sang Fairy Tail's praises he just couldn't help but be mistrustful of a place where everyone seemed to care for one another like it was one big family. One of the first lessons he learned in life was that if something looks too good to be true, it usually is. Therefore a place like Fairy Tail couldn't possibly be as good as Natsu says. The only reason Nathan trusted Natsu was because he earned that trust.

When the kid was being held captive by Shimo, Natsu and Happy came in and rescued him. They didn't expect him to be there, that much is obvious based on how little they knew about him and who he was. However, despite not knowing who he is, Natsu still risked his life to save him even though before that Natsu had never even said two words to the kid. While they were in the hospital, Nathan was wary of Natsu and he tried to see if Natsu had a motive to save him.

Much to the kid's surprise he could not find an ulterior motive. Natsu seemed to be a genuinely nice person, albeit a bit dense and pig headed. He also paid for the kid's food and didn't even ask for repayment. Nathan still couldn't get the sight of Natsu eating, out of his head though. He ate for lunch, the equivalent of what Nathan had eaten over the last three weeks. Nathan was still a bit sceptical but he was willing to try. He figured that anything is better than the Bad Lands and its lack of law, justice and security.

They made their way over to the train station but the closer they got to it the more uneasy Natsu got. This instantly made Nathan suspicious and all the trust he had for the dragon slayer went out the window. He unholstered one of his handguns which he wore around his waist with the shotgun slung over his back. Before he did anything though, Happy jumped onto his back and whispered in his ear that Natsu forgot to mention that he got terrible motion sickness from any type of vehicle. Nathan didn't really understand the concept but he shrugged as he would soon find out, although he never holstered his gun.

Nathan soon found out the horrors of motion sickness because as soon as the train began moving he started throwing up all the food he ate in the hospital. He saw that Natsu wasn't doing any better than he was. When he looked at Happy and managed to groan out a why, the exceed simply stated that motion sickness was a weakness for all dragon slayers. Nathan groaned in response to that.

The result of his motion sickness was something Nathan could only describe as the fifth worst day of his life. Every time the train stopped at a station Nathan tried to crawl towards the exit but he would be unable to reach it as he felt weak due to the sickness moments before. After the twenty three hours of pure torture, they arrived in Magnolia. Natsu managed to recover quite quickly and he immediately sprinted out of the train and began celebrating the fact that he was back on solid ground. Nathan on the other hand had to be carried out by Happy.

Happy set Nathan down on a bench near the train station so that he could recover his bearings. After twenty minutes he was finally able to walk straight again and as soon as he recovered his strength he quickly drew his two pistols and shot a Lightning shot at both Happy and Natsu. Natsu managed to dodge but Happy received the full force of the shot and went down and started twitching. Natsu simply looked shocked at the kid and then his face immediately contorted to anger as he screamed.

'What the hell did you that for?'

'What do you think that was for, that was for not telling me about the motion sickness thing in relation to Dragon Slayers. Yesterday you promised that you had told me everything yet this seems like a pretty big fact to leave out. This was your warning, if you try and keep me in the dark about anything that concerns me ever again I swear I will leave without a moment's hesitation. Let's just be clear the only reason I'm here now is because I've nowhere else to go and this seems like a better alternative to wandering around aimlessly until I'm killed.

Nathan's anger had been rising steadily during his tirade and this had an unexpected effect on his new found magic. Natsu's eyes widened in shock as he watched flames begin engulfing the kid's hands and set the clothes that Natsu bought for him back in Teorann on fire. The kid's immunity to fire left him unaware of this until the smoke from the burning clothes wafted up to his nose. The kid screamed in panic at the sight of his burning body.

Natsu immediately began devouring the flames that had sprouted up and soon afterwards the kid was clear of any and all flames. His new clothes which consisted of a pair of khaki's, a plain white t-shirt and an open zipped hoodie, were all burnt and singed in places. Nathan was still angry but he had managed to calm down enough to allow Natsu to explain himself.

'Look Nathan, I'm sorry about not telling you about the motion sickness, it's just that I kind of forgot about it because I don't like talking about it. Between you and me, getting on any form of transportation scares me ok'. Natsu felt that if he shared one of his own personal fears than it might make the kid trust him a little bit more. It seemed to do the trick as the kid relaxed slightly due to the explanation. He holstered his guns but Natsu saw that his hands were always ready to draw them.

Natsu sighed as he picked up Happy realising that trying to make this kid trust him would take a while. He motioned for the kid to follow as he began to walk in the direction of the Fairy Tail guild hall. Nathan begrudgingly followed Natsu as they walked down the path. Nathan received a few strange stares as people gawked at his burnt clothes but those who recognised Natsu shrugged as if they weren't surprised by it at all.

It was a strange experience for Nathan to say the least as these people all seemed to either look at him with sympathy or didn't look at him at all. Back in the Bad Lands eyes were always upon him either assessing his threat level or assessing if they could rob or kidnap him. He wasn't used to these non-aggressive eyes and that unnerved him slightly. It was if everybody here was content with living here and no one seemed to be constantly on edge.

Nathan began to ponder whether or not he could obtain the happiness and security these people had but his thoughts were interrupted when he bumped into Natsu who had stopped. Nathan looked up at Natsu expectantly and he just smiled down at him and said 'we're here'.

Nathan looked towards the building in front of him with the sign on the front which was the same as Natsu's tattoo. The kid heard loud noises and shouts and cheers coming from inside. Nathan swallowed his nerves and steeled himself for whatever was behind those doors.

'Let's go'.

**Here is chapter 5 enjoy, next chapter should be out in a week and if not please review and tell me to move my sorry ass. Although I am starting college in a few weeks so be warned of possible delays but nonetheless tell me to move my ass. **

**As always please read, review, favorite and follow (although any two are good)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ok here is chapter 6.**

**I'm not going to lie but this was a struggle to get out as I suffered a bit of writer's block near the end so if you have any criticisms please keep them constructive.**

**I do not own Fairy Tail**

The inside of the guild was nothing like Nathan had expected. Inside people were laughing, talking and drinking and not the sort of drinking you'd see in the Bad Lands where people drink in order to forget their problems but the kind of celebratory drinking. This entire scene and atmosphere was completely alien to the kid and out of instinct his hands made their way towards his holsters.

'Were back everyone!' bellowed Natsu loudly to the guild. Many people stopped for a moment and roared welcome back but many of them stopped again once they saw a kid wearing burnt clothes, a shotgun slung over his shoulder and his hands dangerously close to the pistols he had at his waist.

Gradually more and more people began to notice the three companions and all of their eyes where immediately pointed in the kid's direction. Nathan didn't know how to respond to this so he resorted to his default response to any form of scrutiny and that was to glare back. Some people were unnerved by this response and this was evident on their faces. Before anyone asked the obvious question as to whom this kid was, a loud call of 'Natsu!' came from near the bar and prevented them from doing so. Lucy Dragneel née Heartfilia ran towards her husband and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

'You know I was pretty disappointed in you when I found out that you went on a mission without me,' she told the pink haired dragon slayer playfully.

'Yeah, sorry about that but I was bored without you so I decided to go on a mission in order to earn us some money and to surprise you with it when you got back'.

Lucy's eyes softened immediately upon hearing that. 'Awww, that's so sweet of you'. She leaned in to give Natsu another kiss but she stopped when she noticed the unconscious blue haired exceed that Natsu had placed on top of his head. Her eyes widened in concern at the sight of the downed exceed.

'Oh my gosh, Happy! Are you ok?' she cried. 'What happened to him Natsu? Did he get hurt on the mission you guys were on?'

'He wasn't hurt on the mission exactly,' Natsu replied sheepishly.

'Huh? What do you mean by that?' she asked, obviously confused.

'He means that I was the one who shot him' the kid stated nonchalantly.

For the first time since he arrived, Lucy noticed Nathan standing beside Natsu. She looked at the small, skinny child wearing burnt clothes and with calculating and cold eyes and her body filled with pity and shock. Pity for the way he looked and shock in response to what he had said.

'Why would you do that?' she questioned him in a concerned tone.

'Because he pissed me off,' the kid replied with a shrug.

Lucy looked at the kid with concern and then turned towards her husband and put to him the question that the entire guild wanted to ask.

'Who is this kid, Natsu?'

The entire guild, who had been listening in on the conversation fell silent as they waited for Natsu to explain. Natsu sighed as he began explain as best he could. He described how Happy had found the kid and their subsequent escape. Many of people were shocked by the kid's treatment in the Bad Lands but what caused the most shock was the fact that the kid had a fire dragon lacrima implanted in his body thus making him a fire dragon slayer.

After Natsu finished explaining his story to the guild, they all sat in silence and contemplated what they had heard. However, while this was going on the kid who was feeling rather hungry began to eat some of the food that was placed on the various tables surrounding the guild. He quickly ate anything he took as he didn't know how long he had before people begun to turn back to their meals.

When Natsu finished his story, Nathan drifted back to Natsu's side. Soon afterwards people started up their conversations once again but with intermittent exclamations of 'hey where did my food go?' Natsu looked down at the kid upon hearing this and it dawned on him that they hadn't eaten in a while.

'Hey Nate, do you want to go get some food?' Natsu asked.

Nathan frowned at the new nickname but decided to let it go as he had been called much worse and he didn't really care about his name anyway. To him it was just a form of identification. In response to Natsu's question the kid just shrugged and said 'Nah I just had something to eat'.

'Really? When?'

'Just now'.

Natsu frowned at the boy in response to that but then he shrugged. He figured that the kid had no idea how to really get food and that he had been stealing his entire life. Natsu empathised with the boy as soon after Igneel left he took any food he wanted without a second thought. This had resulted in him being labelled as a thief by some people. It wasn't until he came to Fairy Tail was he introduced to the concept of money and paying for your food. Nonetheless, Natsu himself was hungry and he made his way over to the bar with Lucy in order to get some.

They sat down at the bar and Natsu ordered his meal. He looked over at his wife who appeared to be in deep thought. Natsu figured that she was thinking about Nathan as she kept glancing at him. Nathan had joined them at the bar and he hoisted himself up onto the counter and was sitting cross legged while his eyes constantly scanned the guildhall for any hint of danger.

'Hey Natsu, can I ask you something?' Lucy asked as she broke from her thoughts.

'Yeah, sure?' Natsu replied in between bites.

'I know you're going to train that kid in fire dragon slayer magic and I was just wondering if he was going to be living with us as well'.

'Yeah, do you have a problem with that?' the mage asked with a raised eyebrow.

'No no no,' she cried defensively 'I was just asking because I figured that's what you'd do and I am willing to help. Based on your story, this kid has had a hard life so I think he needs someone to take care of him and show him a better life. I know that we can help him become a better man and a great wizard too'.

Natsu smiled at his wife and he was reminded how much of a caring person she was. Nathan, who was listening to their conversation, smirked at what those two were saying. He believed that a good life was determined by your survival and that he was doing fine before Shimo kidnapped him. As for living with them, he couldn't see any danger in it. He would give Natsu the benefit of the doubt for now and his wife had an aura about her that screamed kind and caring. Nathan believed that she would the biggest potntial threat. In his mind, no one is that kind without having a motive. He also felt he knew more about Natsu's motives and that was an obligation to help a fellow fire dragon slayer. This helped put Nathan a little at ease in relation to the man.

Nathan was roused out of his musing when he heard someone approach him directly. 'It seems my sense of hearing has been augmented' he thought. He looked down at the floor and saw a dark green haired little girl who appeared to be his age. She had an orange cowboy hat on her head and her hair was in a braided ponytail. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans, boots, and an open red waist coat over a white t-shirt and she had a small six round revolver strapped to her right thigh. Nathan took one inquisitive look at the girl and asked

'What are you, some kind of wannabe cowgirl or something?' he asked dismissively.

The little girl went red as she looked angrily at the boy. She pointed at Nathan and said 'hey I am a cowgirl, not some wannabe'. She pulled out the gun she had strapped to her leg and showed it to him. 'See I'm a gun mage just like you and I just wanted to see if you'd like to practice together because you're new and you look like you need a friend'.

Nathan studied the little girl in front of him. Although their ages were the same they were two completely different people. The girl projected an air of naivety and childish innocence while the boy acted and talked like he was a hardened soldier. Nathan studied the gun the girl had in her hand. He recognised the symbol on it as it indicated that this was a gun made for children in order to introduce them to gun magic. He had used a similar type when he started gun magic two years ago but he quickly graduated to actual guns.

He doubted that this girl's practice sessions would wield anything he didn't already know. While he was talking Lucy praised the girl who apparently was named Asuka for being so kind and considerate and a green haired woman who apparently was her mother says how proud she was. Nathan, however, just shrugged at the girl.

'Nah, I don't think I should spend time training with a novice like you'.

**I hope you liked that chapter if not please say how I can improve by reading and reviewing.**

**Also I would like to say that I am starting college now so updates may be slightly delayed but this story will be finished and if you feel I'm taking to long, review and tell me to move my lazy ass.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey I'm really sorry for the delay, college takes up a lot more time than I thought and I got sick the day I was supposed to finish this chapter so I couldn't write. Well I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**As always I do not own Fairy Tail**

After the commotion that followed Nathan rudely dismissing the little girl known as Asuka Connell, which involved a very angry girl, her pissed off mother, Lucy trying to calm everyone down and the kid ignoring the entire debacle as he simply snuck out of the guild in the ensuing confusion believing that he better hightail it out of there before their anger manifested it-self physically.

He wandered around the town for a while so that he could get his bearings of it. Although he reckoned he hadn't made a great impression on the guild he realised that knowing the town itself could provide multiple escape routes for the future. He wandered around for two hours, making a mental note of all the major streets and highest and largest buildings. After that was done he went out into the forest he saw near the town in order to practice.

After he ventured into the forest he took in a breath through his nose and the results were shocking. It was as if his sense of smell had been increased ten-fold. It was then that the realisation took him that he would have to spend some time in getting used to his new senses and to train them so that they could prove useful to him in the future. Back in the Bad Lands he had managed to train all of his senses to a point where he could accurately rely on any of them for intelligence. If these senses had changed then so did his perception and he knew it would take a while to incorporate that fact.

'Well might as well get started' he thought. The kid wandered into the forest until he found a clearing in the forest. He then took of his ruined shirt and tore strips of it off. He then stuffed his nose full of two balls of cloth and tied another around his eyes so that he could neither smell nor hear. It was a trick that he learned in the Bad Lands. He would block all other senses as best he could and then fire distance shots at sounds that he heard. If he hit the target then he correctly judged the distance and where it came from. It takes a lot of trial and error and it took Nathan nearly two years to even begin getting good at it. He was still a long way off from being a master.

He concentrated for a half an hour as he tried to adjust his newly sharpened senses. He tried to discern birdcalls from the sound of the trees moving in the wind. The process was thrown off by many animal calls that he had never heard before such as squirrels and other various woodland critters. At the moment he was able to discern some of the bird calls. The next part was the tricky one as he would have to hit the birds with a distance shot. Distance shots were shots that only travelled a certain distance and did nothing more than lightly push an opponent. Completely useless in battle but Nathan has found a use for them in training and in intimidation as they use very little magic.

Nathan began firing shots in order to try and hit the targets he had chosen. However, his aim was way off and he missed each and every shot. He realised that this was a lot harder than hitting rats and small birds back in the Bad Lands. He cursed when he realised that he would have to start this sort of training from the very beginning. He was not looking forward to that as it is incredibly frustrating and he quit the training more than once, but he eventually went back to it as it was one of the last things Doc had started to teach him.

In the end he decided to give up for now on the training and decided to just try and become acquainted with his new and improved senses. He removed the articles of clothing from his eyes and nose and just sat there and took in all the sights, smells and sounds of nature. After a while he heard someone approach him from behind. He quickly pulled a gun out and turned around and pointed it at the person who was approaching. He lowered it when he realised that it was Natsu walking towards him.

'You know you caused quite an uproar in the guild with your smart remarks,' Natsu commented with a small smile on his face.

'Really? Wow you people get rattled easily'.

'Actually, it's considered a boring day if some sort of commotion does not happen in the guild but they are usually caused by someone throwing a punch, not seven year old kids casually insulting a member of our guild and then sneaking out like some sort of thief.'

'Well I was a known thief back in the Bad Lands and I was only being truthful, if the wannabe can't handle something as small as that then how can she call herself a mage.'

'You know, you're not going to make many friends within the guild with an attitude like that'.

'I never said I wanted to make friends here. In my mind friends are only people who haven't betrayed you yet. I've had three friends in my entire life Natsu, and two of them tried to kill me and one of them tried to sell me off as a personal slave. Friends aren't that important in life and I've found that I'm better off without them.'

Natsu was shocked by what the kid was telling him. Natsu firmly believed in the power of friendship and the bonds that people shared. It strengthened him and it made him a better and happier man. This kid just casually dismissed all that and he didn't even look sad about it. He saw friendship as an inconvenience and as a result, casually dismissed it.

'Then what about that Doc person you've talked about?'

'Oh her, she was my mentor, nothing else,' he said casually 'I won't deny it and say I felt nothing towards her but we were never friends, we didn't know a lot about each other and we got along OK except for the borderline violent arguments we occasionally had'.

Natsu bristled with anger as he tried to imagine what kind of people would betray their friends like that and how badly they must have screwed him over if he decided to cut out all friends from his life as a result.

'So then what's our relationship if we're not friends?' he asked with a hint of sadness in his voice.

'I don't know how to define our relationship right now but I should be able to in a few weeks after I get to know you a little better and when you start training me in dragon slaying magic.'

A light bulb seemed to go off in Natsu's head when the kid reminded him of their impending training sessions. He was reminded of the fun he had training with Igneel and how deep their relationship was. He believed that he had discovered a way in which he could restore the kid's faith in bonds and relationships with other people.

'Well I know what kind of relationship I will strive for us to have'.

'Oh yeah, what's that?'

'Simple, I'm going to adopt you and be your father'.

Nathan's jaw dropped when he heard that statement. He certainly wasn't expecting that to come out of Natsu's mouth. He tried to comprehend what was said but he just couldn't. He had heard stories of mother's and father's in the Bad Lands but hadn't actually seen them. The child mortality rate was 90% in the Bad Lands due to rampaging violence poor health care. The 10% of those who did survive usually lost any family they had very quickly, due to a variety of reasons. During some of his (in his mind) weaker moments he had wondered what it would be like to have parents but he quickly dismissed that thought every time it cropped up.

'Why should I accept that offer of yours? Most people I know tend to have ulterior motives when they form a relationship with me,' he said as he tried to keep the emotion out his voice.

'Then I'll tell you my ulterior motive then. I just don't want to see a young kid trying to just survive life, and not actually live it. I feel angry at how bad your life was and I want to make it better because everybody should have at least one person who loves and cares for them'.

Nathan was once again speechless as he began to ponder Natsu's words. He didn't detect anything that would say the dragon slayer was lying and the tone of his voice did indicate that he was sincere. Despite himself, Nathan found himself becoming a little hopeful. He was after all only seven years old and like most people, deep down he just wanted to be loved.

'So what would you do as my father?' The kid asked genuinely curious.

'Well, I would mentor you not only in magic but also in life. I'll put a permanent roof over your head and food to eat, free of charge. I will show you all the great things this world has to offer and I will be there to support you in whatever you do. I'll basically just take care of you and help you find the right path in life. So what do you say?'

There was a brief silence after Natsu's question until the kid finally broke it with his response.

'I'll accept your proposition, for now but don't think I'm going to be calling you dad anytime soon'.

**Alright, remember to give me feedback on what you think of the story so far by Reading, Reviewing, Following and ****Favoring this story. It won't have any effect on my update speed but it is always a nice confidence boost.**

**Also FYI this story is divided up into 2 arcs and arc 1 will be ending soon so be aware of that. That is the last forewarning you'll ever get on how I will proceed with this story just so you know. So appreciate my generosity.**

**I hope you're enjoying the story and I will try and get back to my original schedule of updating every weekend. Remember to respond.**


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